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CHAPTER VIH. 
THE DEFECTS OF THE BRITISH 
TRUSTEE ACTS. 
One very curious result at which the 
investor arrives from the study of the question 
of Investment Distribution is the conviction 
that the British Trustee Acts are framed in 
such a way as to fail signally to accomplish 
the very object that they had in view. 
The main object of the Trustee Acts is to 
provide that Trust Funds be so invested as to 
protect the beneficiaries under Trust deeds 
from the risk of diminution in the Trust’s 
capital. That there should also be a stability 
of income from such investments was another 
point which engaged the attention of the 
framers of the Trustee Acts. But the protec 
tion of the capital sum was their chief anxiety, 
as is proved by the fact that stocks returning 
the minimum of income were selected as 
fulfilling Trustees’ requirements. Income was 
a minor matter ; safety of the trust’s capital 
was the great point. When the possibility of 
obtaining a inore substantial income appeared to 
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